Appraisal of the assessment of needs including the SWOT

The first stage of the ex ante evaluation begins with the appraisal of the assessment of needs including the SWOT. The SWOT analysis of the current situation forms the evidence basis for the assessment of needs. The assessment of needs serves as the basis for setting up the intervention strategy and for designing the interventions of the CAP Strategic Plan.

Therefore, the ex ante evaluator should ensure at an early stage that the foundation of the future intervention strategy is comprehensive, takes into account particular requirements for CAP specific objectives and provides an overall and evidence-based picture of the current situation of the area covered by the CAP Strategic Plan.

The logical path of the first stages of the ex ante evaluation is presented in the figure bellow:

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The scope and tasks of the ex ante evaluation are specified in the legal proposal for the CAP Strategic Plan, regulation (COM/2018/392 final), Article 125.

The assessment areas covered in the following sections include:

• Appraisal of the SWOT analysis of the current situation (Article 103(2))
• Appraisal of the assessment of needs (Article 96)
• Appraisal of how lessons learned from the implementation of the CAP in previous programming periods have been taken into account (Article 125(3)(a))

• Defining what must be covered by the appraisal of the assessment of needs and the SWOT.
• Understanding what constitutes a robust appraisal of the assessment of needs including SWOT.
• Checking if the SWOT is comprehensive, complete, evidence-based and specific.
• Checking that the assessment of needs is transparent, specific, complete and sufficiently prioritised.
• Appraising the logical interlinkages between the SWOT analysis and the assessment of needs.
• Appraising the active involvement of partners in the process of developing the assessment of needs including SWOT.

• Examples of practical experiences of the appraisal of the SWOT analysis and the assessment of needs have been presented at the Good Practice Workshop, ‘Getting prepared for the ex ante evaluation of the CAP Strategic Plan’ in Brussels on 21 March 2019.
• The Guidelines for the ex ante evaluation of 2014 – 2020 RDPs, provides a comprehensive description of the ex ante evaluation tasks specific for rural development.
• The brochure on the environmental benefits and simplification of the post-2020 CAP, explains an approach of the needs assessment and target setting against common environmental and climate objectives of the CAP.